


Till the End

by Cyriusli



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-27 23:06:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/984719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyriusli/pseuds/Cyriusli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Strawhats encounter more hardship in the New World.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_ **Till the End** _

_**Keller Marie / Mugiwara Marimo** _

_Inspired by “_ _**castle of glass** _ _” by Linkin' Park_

 

 

The attack came in the middle of the night. Admittedly it was my fault but I was too caught up in finally being able to run my fingers through blonde hair that by the time I realized what was going on it was too late.

For the short time we had been in the New World, we had already made some powerful new enemies. Of course leave it to Luffy to piss off one of the four Emperors before we even technically entered the second half of the Grand Line. Good ole Luffy.

The cook had laughed when I said that to him. “Our twit of a Captain is going to get us all killed one of these days.” He exhaled a cloud of white toxin as he spoke. How I had missed him these past two years. I had failed that day with Kuma. Failed my nakama. Failed Luffy as first mate. Failed Sanji. Just stood there as he swung at me, whisking me away to that god awful island with the Ghost Princess and Mihawk.

I growled, but not at the memories of the past. Damn the cook for remembering all the right places at all the wrong times. A soft chuckle told me he had no intention of stopping either.

Two years I had waited. Two long years to be back with this man. To convince him we needed to tell them. They were our friends after all. Our nakama. Our family. If family couldn't except you for who you really were; for who you really loved, then why call them family at all? That was my argument then. And it was my argument now. Two years ago the blonde had just shook his head no. The stories from the Baratie too engrained in his brain to even think anything else.

Guess that's the difference between growing up on land and at sea. When I brought it up this time, he had simply smiled and said: “We'll see Marimo.” That's better than a 'no' I guess.

The fire had died down and the sand under the blankets still warm. The small make shift tents we had all built giving us each a bit of privacy. My watch had started early and I was down by the rocks on the shore, listening to the shallow lapping of the waves. I could hear the snores of everyone and I knew at that point everyone was going to get at least one good night of sleep.

I had never been so wrong.

I felt the presence long before the hand touched my shoulder, the cook settling next to me lightly. The quick flash of his lighter sending eery shadows skittering across his features for a moment as he inhaled. “This might be the last chance we get at a quiet night for a long time.” He said staring out to the sea.

“I'm on watch Cook.” I didn't even bother to look over at him. I knew if I had it would have been hard to keep this line I had drawn at the moment. Thankfully he was on my left side.

He was quiet for a moment, taking another long drag before exhaling up into the sky and snuffing the butt in the sand. “That's fine.” I heard him shift and an arm came around my neck, his mouth against my jaw, nipping his way to my earrings.

Damn it felt so good, too good and I closed my one good eye at his touch. So foreign yet so familiar. The scratch of his now noticeable beard was different, but not unwelcome. I could get used to grown up Sanji. Would have to. It would be a childish move to not accept his changes when he had seemed to accept mine. Of course shaving was a bit easier that returning sight and as he continued to make my beloved gold rings chime, the harder it became for me to ignore him.

Once my mind is made up, its a final solid resolution. Bastard cook changed all that with one simple look. I could, have in the past, said no and all he needed to do was pout to get his way. The way his lower lip jutted out slightly and he would cross his arms with a turn of his head and I would give in.

He mistook my inhale of an attempt at self control as my giving in and bit down on the corner of my jaw beneath my ear. I pulled away at that. “Ow, what the hell shit cook?”

He dropped his head to my shoulder with a saddened sigh. “Could we drop the nicknames tonight?”

Grabbing his shoulders, I pushed him back to arm's length as I turned to face him. “I'm on watch Sanji.”

“Never stopped you before.” His voice was monotone and quiet. So unlike him.

“Why is this so important to you that you are willing to interrupt my watch shift?” I'm sure I had my ideas, but since he had requested the use of our names, I wanted to hear him say it. And I knew tonight he would. He was after something more than a quick fuck tonight and be damned if I wasn't going to know what it was before I gave him what he was after. It didn't work that way. If he was going to push my buttons about watch, then I was going to push his on talking.

“I—” he paused. “Two years. And this is the first real chance we have had at some possible alone time. Yeah, we've had five minutes here and there and walking around Sabaody was amazing, but it hasn't been enough. I need to know if what we had then is still here now.”

“You doubting me co—Sanji?” That wasn't quite what I had been expecting. It made sense and given what he had told me about 'his personal hell' he called it, I should have been waiting for it.

“You? No, it's not you Zoro.” He cast his eyes to the side, lost in some sort of memory probably. He's done that a lot since we had all been back together. “I was so focused on getting those recipes, getting strong enough to get away from those fuckers and thinking of the ladies...I would wake in the middle of the night sometimes wondering if what we were—are was all in my head. Those okama fuck with you. They get in your head even when you don't want them there.”

I pulled him forward against my chest into a hug. I heard him sniff and mumble “shitty bastard” against my skin. That made me smile, breaking his own request. “Oi,” I said at the comment, but quickly continued. “Don't be ashamed for not thinking of me twenty-four-seven. It doesn't make you weak Sanji. There were days were I didn't think of you either. That ghost girl was a handful, let alone everything else.” I suppressed a shudder as memories of Perona and her 'play dress up with me' games sprang up. Who really gave a fuck if I was cute or not? Damn witch. “Trust me when I say that for me every bit of it is real. It was then, it is now. Why do you think I wanted to tell everyone? I don't want to hide what I feel for you. I want the whole fucking Grand Line to know.”

His fingers traced the scar across my chest as I talked. “Really?” The word came out muffled and vibrated awkwardly against my skin.

“Really.” I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see it. “Stop doubting yourself Sanji. We all have gotten a lot stronger, but we still have a long ways to go. And I'm not going anywhere. Not even if you try to push me away.”

“I thought I was going to die. I thought those okama were going to turn me into one of them...and for a time it did happen.” I felt him shudder against me at some memory. He still won't tell me everything that happened to him during that time. “I felt like I had lost everything that made me who I am for a time and I think maybe I had. Then I met Ivankov. She's...he's...something. Anyways, he had the paper with Luffy's message and I knew then no matter who or what, I was going to fight to get back to everyone. I was so side-tracked with that I hardly thought of you.”

“Yet here you are questioning everything. What happened to that confident cocky bastard I met at the Baratie?”

He snapped his head up, just narrowly missing clipping my chin. “Oi! What's that mean Zoro?!”

I shrugged. “Take it how you like Sanji.”

He shook his head and sighed. “I don't want to fight with you tonight.”

An eyebrow jerked up at that. “You _sure_ those okama didn't get to ya?” The kick to my shin told me my answer. “Okay, okay. But I had to.”

“No, you didn't.” He fell quiet for a minute and I ran a hand idly across his back as my gaze went back to the sea.

It was a weird darkness with a touch of light to it. There was no moon, but I could make out the rocks and trees near by. I could see the dim red glow of the coals from the camp fire, but not much else in between where that was and where we sat by the water. A slight breeze was coming in off the water, rustling the tree branches and bringing with it the slight tint of salt. The waves were still calm, but pretty low. The tide had to be out.

“Zoro...” his voice brought my attention back to him. He was leaned on his arm, watching me intently, his one blue eye locked on to my every move.

“Hmm?”

Wordlessly his hand came up to my jaw, his fingers lightly brushing against my cheek. “Can I have your attention for just a little while? Then I will leave you be for your watch.” His voice wasn't quite pleading and his eyes held such hope that I would comply. Fearful that I would once again turn him away.

I am a man of a lot of things. I can withstand pain that would kill another and not bat an eye. I have the willpower to overcome the most challenging of obstacles and walk away with out breaking a sweat. But when it comes to a certain blonde cook, I crumble at the slightest glimpse of him.

Our lips met with such a ferocity that I was almost taken aback. Surely this wasn't the same man I had kissed before. The hunger in his touch promised so much more than I would be able to give him right now. And suddenly I desperately wanted to give him all the attention he craved. Damn my volunteering for first watch.

His hand snaked back up to my neck as mine came to settle on his hips. Teeth and tongue joined the fray and we fought out quite a battle for dominance in our mouths. So much for not wanting to fight with me. Sanji was hot, frantic, flustered and just the way I liked him. Finally he relinquished control and I hummed in victory as I was able to explore that mouth again.

Sucking at my tongue, I let out a groan, remembering just what this mouth was capable of. His hand flicked up and twisted, grabbing my hair with a sharp pull, easily reversing the control of the kiss. An eagerness came, over-flooding my senses as one hand came up, then the other, gripping handfuls of that lush soft hair, locking him from pulling away. Two could play this game and as he hungrily searched my mouth, I closed my lips around his tongue and returned his previous show.

His body went limp with a moan as his eyes fell back in his head. I carry a sword in my mouth and have a better and clearer vocabulary than most people have normally. You put two and two together. I don't think I need to explain myself here.

We broke apart, panting, foreheads touching. The only thing I could see was him. The only thing I wanted to see was him. “Zoro, I—” he stopped and his eyes flicked to my mouth before he tilted slightly and kissed me again.

Nothing like before and I let a small whine escape as he pulled away. Sanji and self-control are very rarely used in the same sentence. He took a shuddered breath as my fingers tangled in his hair again. It was so simple, but so relaxing for me. I used to sit for hours at night listening to Brook play the piano, fingers combing through a sleeping blonde's hair.

“I love you.”

“I love you.” He gave a small smile as I parroted back his words. Only once had he said it to me before Sabaody. It had been such a serene moment. I had said it, many times, but he never said it back. Maybe he couldn't say it before. Thriller Bark had terrified him, I knew that much, even if he wouldn't admit it, and as we arrived at that massive grove of trees and were preparing to debark the Sunny, he had dragged me to the kitchen.

The cook was nervous and shuffling his feet, all the while refusing to look at me. And I had made him, a hand to his chin and forced his eyes to mine. He had blurted it out so fast it took me a second to catch up.

Now he said it with ease. It still didn't come as often as my own words to him, but I don't mind. He says it and that's more than I could ever ask for. “I'm sorry I—”

I grabbed his chin as I had that day and stopped his words. “Don't apologize to me. Do I like to hear you say the words? Of course, but I knew before you ever did that you loved me.”

“You fucking suck.” He laughed and pulled his head from my hand.

Yup. Completely surrendered to the blonde. “Not yet.” And I dove at him, knocking us both to the sand behind the rock. We landed with a soft thump and I was all over him, hands flying across his body, my lips against his in another heated kiss.

It didn't last long and soon I was seeing stars, small white blinking lights as a mess of ravaged blonde loomed into my vision. Sanji's cheeks were warm as my thumbs caressed them, and I could only picture the bright shade of pink they were. He came willingly when I pulled him forwards by his hair, mouths meeting again.

The want and need of his lust was coming through strong as he nipped and sucked at my lower lip, hips grinding down against my own. I gave entry to his tongue when he asked and listened intently as his lips formed words against my own. “I want you.” A quick kiss. “I need you so fucking bad right now. Don't make me beg you Zoro. Just _fuck_ me.”

The way he said it. Every time. A shiver of pure pleasure made its way up my spine as I leaned up and bit into his neck, nipping and sucking where his shirt met skin. He moaned and breathed my name is such a way all the blood I owned ventured south in one go. My hands were under his suit jacket, ripping it off his shoulders.

Nami's scream brought us back to reality. I yell at Luffy all the time about letting his guard down and here I was doing just that. I don't think I have ever seen Sanji move that fast as he shrugged his jacket back on and was at the girls' tent instantly, slamming his heel into the side of some pervert's skull. Was kind of ironic.

I rolled to my feet as the rest of the crew stirred, emerging from tents with wide eyes. The fire flared back to life in the middle of the campsite and that's when I saw it. One trail of footprints leading from the woods to the girls' tent. Had I not been so caught up with Sanji I would have felt them before they even got near the tent.

That didn't matter now though. Sanji had taken care of the threat. He knelt down and spoke to our navigator as he went to lift the tent door. She dove out of the door and into the startled cook's arms, screaming his name.

“A warning!” Nami's voice was coming through broken. “It was a warning!”

That's when we knew. There was going to be a fight. What we didn't know was that it would be a fight for our very lives.


	2. Chapter 2

_ **Till the End** _

_**Chapter Two** _

 

My jacket hadn't settled on my shoulders as my foot connected with the brute's skull, the satisfying _crunch_ of bones breaking bringing a smile to my lips. My feet dug into the sand, along with some blood, as I landed and I was instantly on my knee, reaching for the tent door. “Nami-swan are you—”

“Sanji-kun!” Nami-swan yelled my name and hit my chest with such force it knocked us to the ground, sliding a few feet in the sand. This couldn't be happening! The most beautiful of my angels was throwing herself at me in her realization of her feelings for me! I had once again come to her aid, only now, _now_ she has realized her love for me and has thrown herself into my arms.

Wrapping my arms around her, not caring that I was lying in the cool sand, I couldn't help but realize just how soft her skin really was. So warm and smooth. Her hair was like orange silk and her smell was citrus just like her beloved trees. And her breasts...so full and pressed tightly against my chest. Oh and then there had been Punk Hazard. It had been a dream come true, trapped...no, not trapped, _gifted_ with the chance to switch bodies with this gorgeous creature in my arms.

I could feel the all too familiar tingling itch in my nose as my body began to tense. I knew what was coming and even though I had gotten better around the lovely ladies, the combination of Nami-swan pressed against me and thoughts of running around Punk Hazard in that petite body with Zoro was too much.

_Zoro._

What would Zoro say? _'Oi, shit cook, stop swooning. You look like a love-struck moron.'_ My heart sank as several things hit me at once. Nami-swan had no idea what was going on between me and the swordsman. Would this have changed if she had? And...and was my Nami-swan crying?! Why was she crying?! She wasn't supposed to be crying! This wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be gripping my jacket like this, her whole being shaking with bodily sobs. She wasn't supposed to be gasping for breath in between her cries.

Swallowing thickly, I forced myself back into defensive mode and sat up, cradling my precious angel against my chest and between my legs. God, I needed a smoke, but I didn't dare pull my hands away from her. “What's wrong Nami-swan? It's okay, we are all here.” I looked up and around us everyone had appeared.

Usopp was holding Chopper against his chest with one arm, rubbing sleep from his eyes with the other. Zoro was next to Luffy, both wide awake and eyes searching the area. Franky was leaned over the body of the girls' attacker and Brook seemed to be looking around. “Where is Robin?” he asked innocently.

I felt my face drop as Nami-swan seemed to move tighter against me and her cries became louder. “A warning.” The words were broken. Barely words at all. “It was a warning.”

“Put me down Usopp!” Chopper ran past me into the tent. I held tightly to Nami-swan's shaking form and looked up to Zoro.

“Cigarette Marimo!” He raised an eyebrow at the unusual request, forcing me to explain. “I don't dare let go of Nami-swan right now.” Chopper's cry shook through the whole crew and he stumbled out of the tent backwards, his little feet tripping over themselves and landing on his ass hard in the sand.

“What is it Chopper?” Luffy was on his knees in front of the reindeer. “Chopper!”

“Robin!” He cried and buried his face against Luffy's chest. Our Captain wrapped one arm around our doctor, the other pulling the curtain aside slightly. He sucked in a sharp breath and dropped his head against Chopper's as his other hand hit the dirt. “Is she really...?”

“You're the doctor Chopper, but I would say yes.” Luffy fell back on his rear, dragging the reindeer into his lap, cuddling him to our Captain’s chest like a stuffed animal. I heard him sniff once as he pulled his hat forward over his eyes. “Robin's...”

Usopp hit the sand next to us as I shared in his cry of “What?!” Nami-swan's grip on my jacket grew tighter.

“How?!” Franky was the one brave enough to ask.

I had been too late in the end. I let out a growl that startled Nami-swan and scowled up at Zoro. “Shit head. Cigarette. Dammit!” Wordlessly, he bent to retrieve the items from my breast pocket, a comforting hand against my angel's head. He pulled one out of my pack for me and held it out in his hand. I twisted my wrist and snatched both it and the lighter.

I'm sure there were confused looks from the other's but I didn't care right now. The nicotine hit my lungs like a damn sea-train and all I could think was if I hadn't been so caught up on fucking a certain green haired swordsman Robin might still be alive. It was all my fault.

Taking a second drag, I realized I was shaking just as much as Nami-swan. Zoro was still crouched in front of us, his hand attempting to smooth her hair. It was such a sweet simple gesture and one that was truly genuine. She must have seen what had happened. That must have been why she screamed.

“Throat.” I heard Luffy growl out to the cyborg. Chopper's cries grew louder as Nami-swan finally seemed to break off into a whimper.

“They...” Usopp was visibly shaking next to us, frantically looking around. “Who would have done this? To Robin? Why her?”

“That's a long list Usopp.” I said. It was a true enough statement. We kinda had a knack for pissing people off no matter where we went.

“There's no way there was only this guy.” Zoro stood and walked over to the body, pressing his boot toe against a shoulder. “I don't think one person could get here without help.”

“Then we find them!” Luffy stood up, his voice low and deadly. He was pissed. Hell we were all pissed. “No one gets away with hurting my nakama.”

“Y—y—you wanna chase them down?” Usopp stood up. “We don't even know if they are here.”

“I'm sure they are. Whoever would dare to attack us isn't one likely to run away. They are going to want to see our reaction. Maybe take out more of us.” Zoro turned back to the group, staring past us, off in the distance. I could only ponder what was going through his head, but if I knew him like I did, he was berating himself worse than I was. He had told me to stop and I pressed him.

_Dammit._

“Nami-swan...” I slipped a hand in between us and raised her chin to look at me. Her face was flushed and her eyes red and swollen. Tears streamed down her face and her lip still quivered as she tried to bite back more tears. “Are you okay?” She shook her head, unable to form the words to answer. I don't really blame her. I'm not sure how I would react if I had just witnessed one of my closest friends get murdered either.

“Nami.” Luffy's voice was right in my ear as I turned to see him crouching next to us. “I need Sanji. I need you too. We all feel the same about Robin, but right now, I need you to stand up and help find these bastards. Can you do that for me?”

She gave a small nod and sat back away from me, wiping an arm across her face with a sniff. Even when doing such un-lady things, she's so cute. Standing, I brushed myself off, then offered a hand to her. She took it and stood as well, attempting to put on a solid face to work from.

“Marines?”

“No, this isn't Marine work, Usopp. They like to come in canons firing, besides, they would go to the Sunny, not here.” Franky pointed off in a far direction to where the Sunny was located.

“Tracks come from the woods.” Zoro was standing on the far side of the tent now, looking down at the sand. “There's just the one, but I bet if we follow it we will find more.”

A shot rang out in the still night, glancing off Franky's shoulder. The loud _boom_ of the rifle it was fired from echoing around the area. “Cowards!” Luffy screamed. Next to him Zoro drew his swords.

Pushing Nami-swan behind me, I stepped in front of her as I faced off with the woods. Who knew how many were out there or where they would be coming from, but I was on high alert now. I had failed once tonight, I wouldn't fail again. We all formed a circle near the blazing fire as I heard the tell-tale sounds of everyone preparing their weapons. I would have joined in, but no matter how hard I tried, my shoes just weren't going to make noise in the sand.

Another shot and this time it whizzed through the corner of Usopp's hat brim. He gave a panicked yelp and pulled his slingshot back. Nami was mumbling something that had to do with her climatact, Chopper morphed to his Kungfu point and Franky did whatever it was that giant cyborgs did. Next to me, Brook unsheathed his sword. “They are not fighting honorably.”

“Pirates, duh.” I snapped at him. I probably shouldn't have, but we were all a little stressed out. “Oi, shitheads! Come out and fight us like real men!” I yelled into the night air. There was the faint crack of Luffy's knuckles from somewhere next to me. I didn't dare pull my eyes from the tree line.

“There!” Usopp yelled as a third shot dug into the sand at my feet. This one was obviously a miss on purpose. There was a _snap_ and an explosion in a tree as one of Usopp's projectiles hit it's mark...as if it wouldn't. The tree burst into flames and I noticed a couple people flee the base of the tree.

I was on my toes, about to take off for them when I heard Nami-swan yell and lightning crashed about the trees, striking the people down. Then Luffy's voice sounded as he and Zoro broke for the trees. “What?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Let's go!” This time it was clear as he pulled back his arm, 'Gomu Gomu no...' sounding in a feral growl as he ran.

“Oh my god!” Usopp yelled as what seemed like hundreds of people swarmed out of the woods at once. “Luffy!”

Where they all came from I don't think I will ever know, but the only other time I had seen this many people pour into an area at once was on Fishman Island. Only difference, these were people worth fighting. I could feel it. This was not going to be an easy fight. Luffy's Conqueror's Haki wasn't going to help us this time.

We all broke for the trees after our fearless captain and directionally challenged first mate, each of us veering off in our own direction. Of course the weak are thrown in the front and the first few waves of guys went down easily. Zoro's voice rang our over the clamor telling everyone to not let their guard down just yet. It fell quiet for just a second then some sort of horn sounded deep in the trees and more yells sprang up as another wave of fighters broke through the tree line.

They were trying to tire us out.

More this time than the last wave. Each person going down harder than the last and soon I found myself surrounded. Not that I was incapable of disposing of this rabble, I most certainty was and did so in a timely fashion, it was just becoming clear to me that either we were beginning to tire or they were beginning to become stronger.

Luffy's cry of _'Gear Second'_ sounded and randomly people started falling from that side of the beach. I could hear Chopper's hoots and hollers of his Kungfu Point near Usopp's cries from his creepy plant attacks. A rocket shot over my head and spiraled to the ground from Franky and a loud 'Yohohoho' could be heard mixed with Nami-swan's yells of something ball. I missed what type she had said.

There was a satisfying _crunch_ as my foot connected with someone's ribcage and as I stood back up, someone slammed into my back. “We fucked up Sanji.”

“I fucked up Marimo. You told me to stop but I wouldn't listen.”

“It's not like I didn't comply in the end.” He grunted and I heard a series of yells from over my shoulder. Pushing off him, I laid a couple more out, returning to my former place, settling back against him. “Let's not loose anyone else tonight what do you say Sanji?”

“Like I wanted to loose someone in the first place asshole.” I hissed as I lit another cigarette. I went through them like water anyways, but tonight, _tonight_ it was worse. I had opened the pack when I first walked over to Zoro, now I think I’m down to like six. “They are thinning out again.”

“We can't keep this up. Luffy!” And like that he was gone again. I threw a quick glance over my shoulder as he disappeared into the thick of things once more, but returned my attention back to the few guys stupid enough to attack me.

“You won't win.” One sneered out with a twisted smile. He was missing half his teeth and was covered in tattoos of a pirate symbol I had never seen before.

“Cap'n's done ta research _Black Leg Sanji_.” A second spoke cautiously, but confidently. I tilted my head slightly at the name, grinding my cigarette butt between my teeth. “We know eve'y thin' ab'ut yas.”

I grinned. “Bet ya don't know this.” And I ducked down bringing my leg up aiming for the side of his head. The first guy, the one with no teeth, easily blocked my attack with a sword, that same shit eating grin plastered on his face. The second guy simply shrugged as I dropped my leg, crouching on the ground.

“Tol' yas.”

I kicked out, sweeping my leg across the ground, catching the swordsman around the ankle and dropping him to the sand. Springing back to my feet, I got a hit on the smaller of the two, the one to call me by name, blood exploding from his mouth as he spiraled to the ground. The first one was back on his feet, but I was already in the air, above their reach.

Again the horn sounded and below me the two just laughed. “It's ov'r now. Yas be done fo'.” The little snot jerked his head towards the trees, not even attempting to attack me anymore.

I just hung there in the air, my cigarette all but forgotten as my jaw dropped at the sound of the trees. Trees not breaking, but being ripped from the ground accompanied by a loud deep roar. Never have I heard anything like it. Far to my left, I saw Zoro and Luffy, along with Usopp and Chopper as the four stopped and swung their heads towards the tree line as well. All around us cheers from our enemies were springing up and slowly they were backing away.

Without hesitation, I made my way over, landing in the dirt next to Usopp, who made some weird noise and drew back his slingshot at me till he realized I was on his side. “O-oi!” He got out, but all of our attention was on the retreating hostiles and the growing destruction of the woods.

“What the...?” Zoro said around his white-hilted sword as we all watched in horror as a hand, yes, _a hand_ , wrapped itself around the trunk of a tree and _ripped it out of the fucking ground!_ Roots and all and was heft over the shoulder of the largest person I had yet to see on the Grand Line that was not a giant. “Holy shit!”

“Wha—what is that?!” Chopper was right next to Usopp, who despite the shaking had his slingshot pulled back, aiming for the large brute that was lumbering out of the woods now.

“Is _this_ who's in charge here?” Luffy was crouched in the sand breathing hard, one fist dug into the dirt. It could only mean one thing. “I got this. Gear Second.” He stood up, pushing his hat back slightly and calmly started towards the guy with the tree.

Everything seemed to slow down. I could hear some fighting start up and Usopp and Chopper bounded away. Without even really thinking about it, I kicked some guy that came at me but my eyes never left Luffy. He was so pissed off right now it wasn't even funny. I would not want to be on the receiving end of whatever he had planned. The steam coming from him looked even more haunting in the flickering firelight of the battle field. I would not want to be this man's enemy. Ever.

He raised his left arm as he pulled back his right. “Gomu Gomu no...” Turning slightly as the larger foe stood up, tree slung over his shoulder, looming over Luffy with a laugh, he spoke. “Jet Pistol!”

The man didn't even flinch. Just stood there and took the hit. A hit that was still one of Luffy's more powerful attacks. I would be lying if I said Luffy paled, but his color did shift as he went back to his normal appearance. Zoro swore next to me. “He didn't move...” I stammered out.

Again the laugh. A deep throaty sound that seemed to shake the very air as he shifted the tree and swung forward with it, leaves and all at Luffy. I dodged as the top part of the tree came at me, it landing at the corner of the fire and after a few hisses and pops, burst into flame with a loud _whoosh!_

Everything was almost as bright as day now and I could see the telltale green next to yellow and red as Zoro stood back up next to Luffy, the Captain's hand placed on his shoulder. The large ogre looking man dropped the trunk half of the tree at his feet and smirked. At least he had all his teeth. “You must be Roronoa. That can only mean Black Leg's not far.”

“Oi! You can talk?!” Ah, yes, good ole Zoro. Let's taunt the thing that can pull whole fucking trees out of the ground like he was pulling a weed from the dirt. That's a smart plan. Of course, I probably would have done the same. Lighting another cigarette, I walked over to stand at Luffy's side opposite of the Marimo.

“Oh, there you are.” Ugly laughed again. I didn't speak but craned my neck back to look up at him. The three of us could probably take him pretty easily, but unless Luffy changed his mind, there wasn't much we could do.

I heard Luffy grind his teeth next to me. “Was it you? Was it you that gave the order to kill my nakama?!”

“To kill Nico Robin?” Ugly, that's what I'm naming him, just so we are clear, laughed again. A deep belly laugh like this was some huge joke to him. “No, that wasn't me. That was the Captain. I am just here to clean up the rabble.”

“Rabble!” Both Zoro and I squawked at the same time. That's when I heard it, I had been so focused on the tree that I hadn’t noticed the thin, weasel looking guy walk up to us. The sound I heard was the click of the bolt being pulled back on the pistol he carried.

Luffy looked over his shoulder, down at the pistol pointed at his back with a small laugh and a half grin. “You're pretty stupid if you think that's gonna work on me.”

“Never said it was for you.” He swung the one gun towards me, leveling a second one on Zoro. “We know better than to shoot you.” The guns never lowered but he took a couple steps back as Luffy turned around to face him. Ugly just laughed behind us as we all now had our attention on the guy with the guns. Surely he was kidding right? If they knew us so well as they claimed than they knew we could dodge this pretty easily. It was just a scare tactic bluff.

Three thing happened simultaneously. Luffy roared, pulling back to hit the weasel with the guns, I heard a loud bang as my shoulder burst into pain and a large hand came down pinning Luffy face first into the sand. The two guns hit the sand and a third was pulled from a belt as I stumbled back a pace before tripping and landing hard on my ass. My hand flew to my shoulder and came away with blood. Zoro was recovering from a successful block and was turning into a swing towards the gun wielding psychopath. Really, crossing paths with all three of us at one time. Who was that stupid?

Stumbling back to my feet, I watched as Zoro froze mid swing. “What?” I heard him say. The ringing in my ears died down a bit and I was able to understand what was being said.

“I said,” the little shit cocked the bolt on this new pistol. “Don't move. This one's seastone.”

There was a groan as the large hand pulled back out of the sand, taking Luffy with it. Our Captain's head rolled to one side as he came to, his whole body imprisoned by the hand. The gun weasel man was holding trained on his dark hair.

The swordsman stepped back, but didn't lower his swords as I turned slightly, preparing myself to kick out whatever remaining teeth that this guy might have had. Ugly laughed and clenched his hand, you could hear Luffy gasp for air as his eyes shot open now and he stared at the huge monster who held him prisoner. There was a snap and a pop from his knees as the man crouched down, balancing his weight on the fist that held our captain.

The wheels were turning from the look on Zoro's face, but what he was thinking or planning was still up in the air. A lot of options went out the window at the mention of seastone and Devil Fruit users. And on top of everything it wasn't like we were really in a position to bargain with Luffy like he was. “Zoro, Sanji.” His voice was quiet, but still the same strong tone we had all grown accustomed to hearing. He looked from me to Zoro and laughed. That little 'hehe' laugh of his. “Get the others out of here.”

Zoro's face dropped. “What?”

“Captain's orders. Go.” Luffy grunted as Ugly laughed and flexed his grip on the rubber maniac. “I will be okay.” Weasel man showed a toothy grin as he kept the pistol leveled on his target.

“L—Luffy.” I managed and he snapped his head to face me.

“Get out of here!” He growled out at me. I took a step back to run, but tripped again. This time I scowled at the rock that had managed to knock me to the ground twice now. Zoro shot past me and was gone, chasing after the others. Captain's orders were final for him.

“But Luffy...” I dug my foot into the sand and turned on my arm to stand. It gave out, pain shooting down my arm and into my body's core. I fell, but managed to catch myself on my elbow. This was apparently quite funny to the other two men, but Luffy just frowned. A small sad downturn of his lips as he watched, breathing shallowly from the tightened grip that held him.

Then turning from me, he glared up at Ugly. “You got me. Let them go.”

“You're only part of the deal.” The deep voice said matter-of-factly. “I suggest you listen to your Captain Black Leg. Now would be a good time to run.” He chuckled and the pistol toting weasel pressed the gun against the side of Luffy's head. Luffy jerked away, but there was only so far he could go.

I didn't move. I couldn't move. It was right then that I realized what was happening. Luffy must have too. “Sanji,” I heard him say but it truly didn't register till after wards. “Take care of everyone. You and Zoro...they need you two as much as you need each other.”

“You—you know?” I choked out.

“We all know Sanji, jeez.” He laughed. His most energetic, happy laugh, like he didn't have a care in the world. Like we were setting off on a new adventure. In a way I guess he was.

It was cut short by the loud booming crack of the pistol and blood splattered my face as I heard myself scream his name. It was a high pitched frantic noise. One that I really wasn't sure I was capable of making. The famous hat drifted to the ground as Luffy's body went limp in Ugly's hand. After everything I had seen this man accomplish. After everything we had been through, a single bullet was all it took. I couldn't breath as I just sat gawking at the trail of blood as it made it way to the ground. There was no way this could be happening. Not to us, not to Luffy. But here I sat, in blood soaked sand, the harsh reality of the New World kicking me square in the face.

Strawhat Monkey D. Luffy was dead.

“Better run.” The weasel guy laughed and walked off, leaving me there as I stared after him stupidly. Vaguely I saw Ugly stand and walk away, taking my Captain with him. It was all a haze now. What was going to happen? What was the reasoning for this? Was this to be the fate of all of us? Were we all doomed to die a horrid death like Robin-chan and Luffy?

Dimly I was aware of the roaring growing louder around me. All the people who had run off before had come back, probably thinking they could now take care of us with ease. Now that we were broken. Now that we were without the direction of our captain. Now that we were just a muddled mess.

“Sanji!” A hand grabbed my good shoulder and shook it roughly, dragging me back to the battlefield. I snapped my head up to see green hair and my first reaction was to cry. I could feel the tears brimming as I stared wide-eyed at my lover.

“Luffy...he's...”

Zoro pulled my to my feet, then leaned down and snatched the hat, slamming it on my head. “I know. Let's get out of here Sanji. We can talk once we are all safe.”

He pulled on my arm and I followed, not really caring what was going on around me. “Safe? Zoro. Luffy's dead.”

He cut down down a foe and spun on me, grabbing me harshly by the shoulders and shaking me. “But _we_ aren't. You heard him. He left it up to us to get the others to safety. Don't you quit on me now cook.”

“I'm not quitting!” I yelled back at him. He just nodded and turned, directing us towards the far side of the shore. “Where are we going?” I knew better than to ask, but I'm not exactly thinking clearly right now.

“I told Franky and the others to scatter, then start making their way towards that stream we passed on the way here. Told them I had to go get your stupid ass.” The whole time he never turned back to face me, just spoke as we ran from the yelling and screaming, from the glowing fire and the death. From the tragedy that I knew was going to haunt my sleep whenever I got that next. I'm not sure what caused me to do it, but slowly I pulled Luffy's hat forward to hide my eyes as I ran behind the blurry figure of Zoro.


	3. Chapter 3

_ **Till the End** _

_**Chapter Three** _

 

The scream that ripped from the cook's mouth caused me to pause in what I was saying to Franky and turn. “Go!” I yelled over my shoulder as I started for Sanji. Somehow I had managed to get to the far side of the beach. “I'm gonna get him and meet up where I told you.”

“Right.” He yelled after me and was gone.

I made my way across the battlefield, yelling to our remaining nakama as I went. The only one I couldn't find was Brook. That unnerved me quite a bit. We had already lost Robin and if what I was gathering from the cook's scream, Luffy as well.

The sight I came upon was heart wrenching to say the least. There in the sand, sat a very broken looking Sanji, shoulders slumped forward, hands in his lap as he stared unseeing at the large patch of blood stained sand. Luffy, that huge bastard and the gun wielding nutcase were all gone. The hat though, Luffy's most prized possession lay a few feet from where Sanji's toes dug into the dirt. “Sanji!” My hand came down on his good shoulder and he turned, looking up at me. A hollow empty look as tears brimmed the corners of his eyes.

“Luffy...he's...” The cook choked out the words as I pulled him to his feet. I grabbed Luffy's hat next and pressed it down onto that head of blonde hair. We spoke for a moment but we couldn't stay here. The longer we were on this beach the clearer it became that whoever this was was out to kill all of us, not just scare us. There were a few heated words as we ran for the tree line, but the whole time the cook followed willingly.

Really, I hated to leave the battlefield, but Luffy had said to keep everyone safe and that was my main priority at the moment. Keeping our remaining nakama alive was more important that giving in to my lust of battle. Besides, I was pretty sure the fighting was long from over.

A tree root caught the cook off guard and he stumbled, but I managed to catch him under the arm before he fell. Tears were visible on his cheeks now and for once I had no intention of giving him shit about it. As much as I keep myself in check, I'm pretty sure I would have been in a similar state if I has witnessed what Sanji had. “You okay?”

He nodded and swallowed, attempting to catch his breath. “That stream we passed you said. That wasn't far from the Sunny.”

“No,” I answered as Sanji pushed off me, standing on his own again. With a shaky hand, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply and holding his breath as I'm sure the toxin did little to calm him. “But it's far from the fighting and that's the point.”

“They probably have realized we are gone.” The cloud of white obscured his image as he spoke and I turned to start running again.

“Then let's go.” He sniffed with a nod and scratched at a spot under the hat, then pulled it forwards over his eyes again. He made no attempt to move though as he took another drag, staring off at some point on the ground. “Come on Sanji!” I grabbed his hand in mine and pulled.

Numbly he followed and that's how we stayed until we reached the others.

There was a small clearing near the stream's edge, but just on the other side of it, just on this side of the tree line, I could make out the others. Good so they still had the sense to stay hidden. I rounded a tree and pulled Sanji with me and there we stood, hand in hand, as I took in a count of the others. Nami and Usopp were huddled against a large tree, Chopper curled up in our navigator's lap. Franky was sitting on a downed tree not three feet from them and the cook and I made six.

“Oh god, no.” Nami's voice echoed my own thoughts, but I don't think hers were on the missing skeleton as she started crying again her eyes locked on the cook. “Luffy! No, not Luffy!” Her head buried itself into Usopp's shoulder and all our sharpshooter could do was wrap an arm around her shoulders as tears streamed down his face as well.

Chopper, though, in an amazing feat of bravery, jumped up. “Sanji, you're hurt. I can smell it, your blood has a unique smell.”

Sanji's grip on my hand tightened and I realized he hadn't let go yet. Why hadn't he? Was he too shocked by everything to even realize it? “Chopper...I...” He started but the reindeer was already pulling at his suit jacket and as Sanji slipped to his knees, he finally let go of my hand.

While the doctor was preoccupied with my cook, I sat down next to Franky. I pressed my fingertips together as my forearms came to rest on my knees. “Has anyone seen Brook?”

It was quiet a minute except for Nami's muffled sobs and Chopper's small whines as he fused over Sanji. “We got separated.” Nami finally spoke, turning her head but never leaving Usopp's shoulder. “I—I don't know what happened. You don't think...”

She trailed off. Yes. Yes, that is exactly what I think. We were down to six. There was no doubting it. How could we have gone from laughing and joking around that fire to loosing three of our crew in a matter of hours? My shoulders dropped a little and my eyes flicked to Sanji and Chopper. The doctor had removed the blood soaked shirt and was in the process of cleaning the bullet wound. That's how. The cook and I had fucked up big time. Taking a shaky breath I sighed and started to speak. “Guys,” I said quietly, my eyes never leaving what Chopper was doing. “I'm sorry. This is all my fault. Mine and Sanji's.”

The cook tensed, but if it was from my words or Chopper removing the bullet, I couldn't be sure. “You're fault?” Usopp finally spoke. “How is this your fault?”

I hesitated, not because I didn't want to explain, I didn't know _how_ to explain. Personally I could have just come right out and told them, but I had Sanji to think about as well. The hat was pushed back a bit now, revealing Sanji's face as he looked over at me, his eyes trained on mine. I saw his lips move, but I couldn't believe the words coming from them. “I was distracting him. I...I wanted the chance to spend some time with him. Have some privacy while we had the opportunity.” He shrugged, which caused Chopper to pause in his bandaging. “I'm sorry...”

Usopp stood, his hands clenched into fists at his sides as he took the two large steps up to Sanji and swung, hitting the blonde right across the cheek. Sanji let it happen, had to have seen it coming and just fell with it, catching himself and holding at the awkward angle the sniper's punch threw him to. “You selfish bastard,” he hissed as his shoulders heaved with heavy breaths. “Robin, Luffy and possibly Brook are all dead because you needed to _fuck_ Zoro?”

I winced at the use of Usopp's harsh words. Sanji didn't move. Didn't flinch. Didn't blink. They seemed so foreign coming from his mouth. “And _you,”_ he turned on me and stomped over. He pulled his fist back and I didn't move, just closed my eyes. Like Sanji, I was just going to accept the hit. There was no point in arguing with him. For once Usopp was right. We both deserved it. The hit never came though and as I opened my eyes, he was glaring at me, his fist pulled back, but his arm was shaking. “What happened to all that self control you claim to have? Aren't you the one who is always yelling about not letting your guard down? If you wanted the time, why did you volunteer for watch? It's not like we don't know, you two aren't exactly all that stealthy about it.” The anger drained from him as he spoke and he fell to his knees in front of me, hands coming up to cover his face.

“Stop this.” It was Franky's voice. “This is exactly what they want. They killed the leader and they are now expecting the crew to tear themselves apart from the inside. Aren't we stronger than that? This isn't what Luffy would have wanted.” He stood up, hauling Usopp to his feet and looking down at me. “Isn't that right Zoro? Or is it Captain now?”

“Don't call me that.” I said quietly, not moving from my spot. The cyborg let go of our sniper, who wiped a forearm across his face. “I'm not Luffy.”

“We know.” Usopp hissed. “Luffy wouldn't get distracted on watch.”

“Stop it Usopp!” Nami spoke up from her place by the tree. “We are all upset and hurt.” She took a deep breath as her eyes shifted between all of us. Sanji had sat back up again and Chopper was silently putting the final wrappings to his shoulder, glancing occasionally at the cook's jaw. “But I don't blame Sanji-kun and Zoro. We all have our weaknesses.”

Sanji opened his mouth to speak. I'm sure something like 'I'm not weak' was going to come out, but I glanced over at him and he stopped. Instead: “It's my fault we didn't tell you. Zoro wanted to but I wouldn't let him.” I saw his lip quiver and was pretty sure he was going to break again. “Luffy...” he said quietly. “Luffy said you all knew. He said that you guys needed Zoro and I as much as we needed each other.” His hand weakly pointed around as he spoke, a small saddened laugh broke free as he did so. “Then—then he laughed and...” he stopped, eyes dropping back to the ground.

“We should get cleaned up.” I said, attempting to bring the conversation somewhere that might get us thinking about getting off this retched island with some of the crew intact. “If we travel upstream a little, the trees come right to the water and we can use them for cover. Sanji, you should really get that blood off you and I know most of this isn't mine.” I looked down at my hands as I spoke, just now coming to realize how much blood coated them.

Usopp spun on his heel and returned to Nami, helping to pull her to her feet. I didn't blame him at all for his actions and Nami was right. We all did have our weak points, even if we tried to hide them. For Nami it was money, Usopp's had been the Merry. Franky's the Sunny. Chopper just needed to try to help everyone and Sanji's was of course women. Mine? Mine was the cook.

“Sanji...” Chopper's voice brought me back to the moment and as I stood, I glanced back to the doctor and cook. “The jacket is one thing, but I can't let you put that shirt back on. It would be too tight against the bandages right now. And well, it's covered in blood.”

“It's fine,” Sanji patted Chopper on the head with a small smile. “I'm just after my smokes anyways.” With a small nod, Chopper swung his backpack back on and ran to catch Nami's hand as those three, followed by Franky started walking amongst the trees following the stream edge. As soon as the reindeer turned, the blonde rustled his pack with a frown and a sigh.

“How many?” I asked. I had seen that look many times before. He was just about out.

“Four,” he lit up as he spoke and inhaled deeply. The air seemed to still as I waited for him to finish the sentence. “If you include this one.” With a slight turn of his head, the cook held it up. “My shoulder fucking hurts ya shitty bastard.”

“Oi, its not my fault. And what happened to the no name calling request tonight.”

“Still holding to that? I think given the situation, the crew needs some familiarity. What's more familiar than us fighting?” He laughed. A hollow sound. So unlike him. Having seen Luffy be killed must have really shaken him. “Let's go. I don't want to get too far from everyone.”

By the time we caught up to them, they had found a small waterfall nestled in the trees and were each quietly rinsing the blood and dirt from their clothes and skin. Chopper had his bag open against a fallen tree and was tending to a long scratch against Usopp's shoulder.

The sky was beginning to lighten and with it brought a whole new set of problems. Hiding was going to be far more difficult for one and two, this now meant that the cook and I had been up for at least a whole day, the others must have only gotten a couple hours of sleep. This was going to quickly become our greater enemy. Kneeling down next to the stream, I shrugged off my jacket and dove my hands into the water.

It was quite cold, a surprisingly refreshing wake up from the numb feeling that had started to come over me. One of us needed to keep it together and the crew was looking to me to do just that. The water turned red and drifted lazily off as I scrubbed at my hands and arms. I hadn't really received any outrageous injuries, but I did manage to find a shallow cut across the back of my left hand. Not quite sure how that got there.

This wasn't enough though. I needed to be awake and ready to take on whoever decided to attack us next. I ignored Sanji's smart-ass comment of what I was doing as I took off my swords, sash, boots and jacket, dropping into the water with nothing more than my pants on. Okay, water is really fucking cold when you go from completely dry to waist deep. I hissed in a breath before I managed to regain my composure and dropped to my knees as I ducked under the water for a moment.

The whole world seemed to vanish in the dark waters of the swirling brook. My eyes closed and I just let the cold water wash over me as I refocused myself. So, we had lost Robin and Luffy. Brook was missing and assumed dead as well. That meant that myself, Franky and the injured cook were our remaining strongest fighters. That's not to say that Usopp, Nami and Chopper weren't strong or capable of handling themselves, they just didn't have the same amounts of stamina that the a fore named did.

Franky seemed pretty stable still, along with Usopp and Chopper, surprisingly. Nami was a wreck and rightly so. As was Sanji, although the cook was trying very hard to hide it. Both of them had witnessed the murders of our nakama.

Taking a mental breath, I scrubbed at my shoulder. We needed to have some sort of plan. The one that instantly sprang up would be go to the Sunny and get the hell out of here, but if these guys were able to take out Luffy, the Sunny was most likely going to be a trap. What was it Luffy and Nami had said? Something about...

Resurfacing and scaring the hell out of Nami as I moved to where she was been washing under the water, I shook my head. “Law.”

“What? Ah come on Zoro.” She wiped her face from where I had splattered her with water. “Why are you even _in_ the the water? Stupid idiot.”

“Nami. What did you and Luffy say about Law?” I scratched at my hair and standing back up, leaned forwards to try to wash the dirt from it.

“Law was going to meet us in a couple days. That's why we came here.” Her face dropped. “You don't think...”

“I don't know.” Picking my head up, water ran in streams off my hair, down my neck and body back towards the water. “We just need to stay alive till then.”

“Well we can just go back to the Sunny.” Usopp said hopefully.

“We could...” Sanji said as I pulled myself out of the water. I think I brought half of the stream with me as I hauled my drenched ass out onto the grass. “But.” It wasn't the start of a sentence. Just the word. Like he had no reason to explain it. It hung in the silence, accompanied only by the brook.

“I could use more medical supplies and if we are on the Sunny we could get away.”

“It's most likely a trap Chopper.” It was Sanji that spoke even though I had opened my mouth. He was seated near my things, as if to watch over them to make sure nothing went missing. Like any of our nakama besides him would dare touch my swords anyways. “Get dressed shithead.” He directed at me, but kept his eyes staring off some where else. I rolled my eyes, but walked over to where my things were and sat down to pull on my boots. “We need to check it out though.” He said quietly.

“It most certainty will be a trap.” Franky said with arms crossed. “But if it is and we are aware of it, we can take the precautions to avoid it. Going to the Sunny might not be a bad idea.”

“It's a horrible idea.” Nami's hands hit her hips with a frown. “If we know it's a trap, let's not give them what they want.” Turning to myself and the cook, she added: “Right Zoro?”

I nodded as I stood and pulled on my jacket. “Staying on the ship is defiantly out.”

“Zoro...” Sanji said almost thoughtfully...almost, as he mindlessly handed me my sash. “Sending one or two of us to gather some supplies and check for traps might not be a bad idea. We can survive easily here for a couple days and just wait for Law. Or it would give us time to decipher what the traps are and get past them.”

Pulling the knot tight, I bent for my swords. “You actually for this cook?” He shrugged. He looked like he wanted to go for a cigarette, but stopped himself. “Or do you just want more smokes?” He turned to look at me and I could see a bruise starting to form on his cheekbone. Usopp got him pretty good. Would have to congratulate the long-nose later.

“Supplies I said moss head. As in things we can use. Yes, more cigarettes would be great if there is time to get them. I was honestly more concerned with getting Chopper his medical supplies. You guys can deal with my bitching for a couple days if it means we are all live to talk about it afterward.”

“True enough.” My hand came to rest upon my swords hilts as I turned to the others. “You guys agree then?”

“Who would go?” Nami asked. “I don't like the idea of us separating again. Someone...someone could...” She stopped as tears came to the corners of her eyes again.

“Hey Nami,” Usopp pulled her in for a hug again. Those two were something else. I would never understand them. There was definitely nothing sexual there, but the sister-brother relationship was beyond anything the rest of us shared with those two. Maybe that was why. They did seem to end up together a lot when the crew would get separated during fights.

“No,” I said. “We are not splitting up again. Not now at any rate. We are all going to go to the Sunny. Two of us will actually board him to gather supplies like the cook said, then we get the hell out of the area before they realize it. We need to go now though, it's going to be full daylight soon.”

“Right.” Came the uniform reply.

We packed up the few things we had and made our way around the rest of the shore to the far side of the island where the Sunny was anchored. It was a small cove with a natural rock wall running down the closer side and out into the ocean where it suddenly just dropped off. We had been able to sail the Sunny right up to it and drop the gangplank. He was still right where we had left him, sails tied tight and flags waving in the morning breeze.

“Usopp.”

“Huh? Oh right Zoro.” He fumbled in his bag for a moment before pulling out some binoculars. He was quiet as he took a closer look at our ship from where we stood in the tree cover. “I don't see anyone and the ship looks fine from here.” He turned slightly as if scanning the horizon and shore line. “I don't see any ships at all. Maybe they left?”

“Doubtful.” Sanji said with a growl and this time he did pull out a cigarette. How many did that leave now? Two after this? “They are here...somewhere.”

Damn cook. I understand his need to keep the reality of this in check and I completely agree, but his tact sometimes. Well, I shouldn't complain, not like mine was any better. I will tell ya like it is whether you like it or not. But right now it was easy to at least try to put a comforting twist on things. Nami, for starters, needed it. Along with Chopper. Those two were just extremely sensitive right now. I'm kinda surprised Sanji was staying as well put together as he was. All those times he went all emotional on me. Maybe whatever Luffy had said to him had finally triggered some sort of protection sense in his blonde brain.

“I'm going.” Chopper's little jump to grab my attention worked. “I'm the only one who knows what exactly to get for medical supplies. I need to go.”

Dropping to my knee, I put my hand on the reindeer's shoulder and stopped his movements. “Are you sure? I won't make you go. This is dangerous.”

He nodded sharply, but swallowed. “I spent two years making myself into a monster for Luffy and....and I'm a pirate. I can do this. Let me do this Zoro.”

I sighed as Sanji's hand came down on my shoulder. I looked up to him, but he was looking out to the ocean or the ship, I don't know, but not at me. Smoke lazily drifted from the end of the cigarette between his lips. “Let the doctor go. Luffy would have let him.”

“I'm going too.” Franky turned from the ocean to the three of us. “If anything is wrong, I will know what to do to fix it.”

That made sense. There was no need to argue with Franky's point there. Not that there was a need to argue with Chopper, but he was naturally a wild animal after all and would spook easily if frightened. He had done it before. I didn't doubt the little guy, just didn't want him to go into a situation unprepared.

“If you deem it safe, then let us know. We can gather Robin's body and get the hell off this rock.” I growled from where I kneeled on the ground. The grip on my shoulder grew tighter. The cook could tell just how annoyed and upset this was making me. The longer we stayed here the more useless I was beginning to feel. I could think of something if we were in the middle of the water on the Sunny. Here, on this island, I didn't know what was coming. It was keeping me on edge.

The cook exhaled a cloud of smoke. “Be quick about it. The sooner we can be back in the tree cover the better.”

“Right!” Chopper nodded and set off after the cyborg down the rocks towards our ship. None of us said a word, I don't think we dared to. Usopp kept the binoculars against his eyes and Nami had wrapped her arms around Sanji's bad arm. I don't think she was hurting him any, just needed to feel another body against hers. He, like myself, had our eyes on our crew mates and I hadn't even realized my hand had gone up to wrap with his till he gave it a light squeeze and looked down at me as I looked up to him. He was shaking though. I could feel it. So he wasn't as well off as he was pretending to be.

Time seemed to stand still as we waited for a report. “So far so good.” Usopp said as the two stepped onto the grass deck and disappeared into different areas of the ship. The sniper let out a hopeful laugh. “We might be okay! There doesn't seem to be—”

His words were cut off as the Sunny burst into flames, explosions going off along the ship one right after another. Nami gasped and I heard her drop to her knees, but my focus was on Usopp, who after screaming for Chopper, attempted to bolt down the rocks. I grabbed the sharpshooter and threw him to the ground, pinning him there. This, of course, left Sanji wide open and before I knew what he was doing, he had bolted half way down the rocks, running as fast as he could towards our ship. His jacket and shoes laying in a crumpled heap by Nami's feet.

We knew this was an option. We had willingly sent two more crew members to their deaths this way. Shit, I wasn't cut out for this. I wasn't cut out to make these types of decisions for anyone other than myself. And now we were in even more of a spot. Our ship was destroyed.

“Let me up Zoro! Chopper! Franky!” His panicked cries did nothing accept to anger me more. Not at him, at this whole damned situation. And now Sanji had gone from my sight as well. Stupid fucking cook. What was he thinking? Darting down there like that? What if there had been more charges set that would now be triggered?

From the looks of the first explosion, it was near the engine. Franky must have tripped it. Then the others just made a path down the ship. One came from the galley, so there was a chance that Chopper might have made it, but if he hit that water, he was done for unless the cook could get to him fast enough.

There he was. Blonde hair breached the surface, just to dive back under again. Shit, he hadn't found anyone yet. “Nami?!” I turned to her, but she was just a shaking crying mess again.

“Oh, Zoro,” she said between shaking breaths. “We are all dead aren't we?”

“Don't talk like that!” I snapped. I could hear the cook now: _'Don't yell at her like that you stupid moss head!'_ “Ah, jeez Nami. We will figure something out.”

“How?! The Sunny was our chance.” She turned to face me and the last time I remember seeing that face besides in the last day was right before we kicked Arlong's ass. She turned to Luffy with that same look and asked for help.

I glared down at the body under me. “Usopp. I am going to let you up. You take one fucking step towards that ship and I will kill you myself. Got that?” As he nodded, I let him up and turned, grabbing Nami and pulled her against me. This must have been the first time we had ever shared in this type of contact, but she wrapped her hands in my jacket and cried uncontrollably against my chest as I stroked her hair. My gaze was on the sea and the Sunny, looking for the cook. I couldn't afford to loose him too. Not now.

Time seemed to freeze. The only noises I could hear besides Nami was the cracking and popping of burning wood on the Sunny. The hissing of water as it turned to steam. Made me sick. Made me think of the Merry. This was not supposed to be happening. We were supposed to be waiting excitedly as Franky and Chopper ran back to us telling us we were going to be okay.

“There!” Usopp pointed far out to the right of the Sunny as Sanji surfaced once again. He was low in the water and that could only mean one thing. “You don't think...”

“We gotta get to him!” I heard the words leave my mouth, but I didn't make a move. “Usopp; take Nami!” The crying ball of orange hair shifted from me and grabbed Usopp as he crouched next to me, knocking him off his feet.

I was up and down the rocks in a flash, running into the knee deep water on the right side of them, where Sanji was standing up, dragging something large with him. Cold water flooded my boots as I stopped and stared at the dripping cook, hair plastered to his face, Luffy's hat string pulled tight against his neck under his chin. “Zoro...” he barely breathed my name as he saw me and I could see the red rings around his eyes. My initial thought was it from being in the sea water, but as I waded closer to him, I knew I was wrong.

What he had with him was a very large and very dead reindeer. A good size broken piece of wood was sticking out of the doctor's side, having broken ribs and puncturing his lungs. Without a word, I pushed Sanji aside, I could see his bandages had been stained pink from the stress of having to support this other weight. “He was like this by the time I found him...” The normal even tone was gone from his voice, replaced with a shaky 'this can't be real' tone. “Franky...”

“Just stop Sanji.” I wrapped my hands around the wood and pulled it free of Chopper's side and even from where we were, as I hefted the animal to my shoulders, I heard Nami's scream. “We knew this could happen. They knew it could happen.”

“I gotta look for Franky...” He turned from me, but I grabbed his arm.

“You saw it too.” I growled and his eyes grew wide as he stared at me. “You saw that first blast and where it came from. If Chopper didn't make it...” He reached his free hand towards my face, but paused. It was openly shaking and I blinked at the thought of it. That's when I felt the tears roll down my cheeks. When had I, of all of us, started crying?

He ripped his arm from my grip, anger flooding over everything else. “Why do you have to be so damn negative all the time you bastard?! Can't you just for once wish that something would go right?”

I hadn't even noticed we had started walking till I could hear Nami's whimpering as we approached. “I have and I do. But I am not going to be delirious about the potential of us surviving this anymore.” I stopped before I knew we were within hearing range of the others and spoke quietly. “You know as damn well as I do we are all going to die don't you?”

He looked away, but nodded in agreement. I continued. “We both have to play it off with them. Please don't make me do it with you as well. We both have to stay strong Sanji. They need us to be be. I need you to be.” His eyes flicked to me then. He still didn't speak but I could see in his look as his hand came up to move his dripping bangs, that he was trying his hardest to be.

“Chopper...” Usopp's voice sounded rather hollow as he left Nami and came to my side, cradling the reindeer's head in his hands. “Oh god Chopper.”

“We need to get away from here.” Sanji picked up his jacket and carefully slipped it back on over his shoulders. His injured one must have been killing him at this point, but he never wavered. The only sign I saw of pain was the slight stiffening of his right side as he reached down with his left hand to help Nami to her feet. “With the Sunny...they will be coming this way.”

“We need to bury them...” Usopp sounded so far away and lost. “We can't just leave them.”

We were all quiet for a moment as the only sounds to fill the air once again was the Sunny and Nami's tears. After a minute, I grunted and for once in my life, took off in the right direction. I didn't get lost, shit just moved all the damned time. Foot prints were easy to follow though.

Foot prints.

“They can easily follow us like this you know.” I really wasn't speaking to anyone, just out loud, hoping to change the focal point of our thoughts again. This, by far, had to be the worst day of any of our lives.

“They are probably watching us right now.” Nami, who had been rather quiet, finally spoke. Her voice seemed...broken, not just from tears, but mentally. It was cracked and lacked her normal self confidence. “Just waiting to take out the rest of us.”

“Hush Nami-swan.” Sanji said to her quietly. “Don't say things like that.” Even his voice was breaking in tone. He was hiding it well, but I could hear it. I'm sure the others could as well.

I kept walking, Usopp leading us towards the other beach where Robin hopefully still lay and all this began. Sanji, though...Sanji was doing just as I needed him to. And for that I was grateful. I needed him more now than he even knew. I couldn't keep everyone held together by myself. Not when it was hard to keep myself strong and put together. In a matter of hours, we had gone from nine to four and it was greatly taking its toll on us all.

The beach was clear and exactly how we had left it when we had fled from it just hours before. We made our way towards where our camp was and I knelt down, placing the body of Chopper on the ground as gently as I could. Nami stood shaking in between the other two as she swallowed hard. “I...I'm not going to be able to see Robin like that again.” Her breath caught in her throat. “But we can't bury her like she is.”

Everyone stopped and turned to me. We were all groggy just standing there, sleep deprivation beginning to kick in. Even Sanji, who was used to keeping bizarre hours as much as I was, was starting to blink more in an attempt to keep his eyes open. “Fine,” I scratched at the back of my head, not really wanting to do what I was about to volunteer for. “I will tend to Robin.”

It was going to be a long day on top of an already long night.


	4. Chapter 4

_ **Till the End** _

_**Chapter Four** _

 

My nerves were really starting to get to me. I was shaking from the lack of sleep and the lack of nicotine to my system. Plus we hadn't eaten since I had made dinner the night before. There were more pressing matters though and I had spent most of the morning digging the shallow graves for my crew mates in an attempt to ward off the 'you need to eat' flight instinct that was gnawing at the back of my brain.

Weary and tired, I landed on my ass hard in the sand, Usopp's small shovel falling from my fingers as I finally broke down and reached for a cigarette. One left after this. I watched through a haze of smoke as Nami-swan laid a small grouping of purple flowers down at the head of Robin's grave and Usopp stood Chopper's little blue backpack at the head of his. Stones for Luffy, Franky and Brook were placed on either side of the other two. All in all, with what we had to work with and how tired we had all become, it wasn't a bad sight.

I pulled Luffy's hat back on my head as Zoro fell to the sand next to me. He had taken great care with Robin-chan's body and for that I was grateful. It was something I knew I would not have been able to do. “Something isn't right.” His voice was slightly cracked. Licking his lips, he turned to me. “You feel it?”

Honestly... “No, but I have been trying to fight off the urge to freak out all morning. We need food moss head.” He simply nodded. He understood where I was coming from. I never liked to talk about it, but it was hard to hide when you woke up screaming in the middle of the night and the only one around was a stupid Marimo to talk to.

“Take Usopp.”

“What?”

“Take Usopp and go get something to eat. Hey Usopp,” he called out to our sniper, who half turned from where he stood. “You and the cook are gonna go find some food. Nami and I will finish up around here.”

Nami-swan turned then as well. She didn't seem delighted about the plan, but she looked like she was about ready to drop from exhaustion, so didn't question it. I took another long drag and snuffed out the cigarette, putting the second half of it back in my pack. I knew I would need it later. “I—Are you sure us splitting up again is a good idea Zoro?”

“No.” He said flatly. “But, you are right. It's what...early afternoon now? We need something to eat. Nami and I can easily gather the blankets and such and go back to that spot from this morning.”

“That's probably not a good idea.” Usopp crossed his arms in front of us. “They probably have that place surrounded, just waiting for us to go back.”

“So...staying on the beach is a smart idea?” Zoro sneered up at the sniper. I don't think he really meant to, but like the rest of us, he was just tired.

“It might be.”

“How so?”

“It's the one place they won't expect us to return to.” I heard my self saying. “I'm not saying stay sitting here in the sand, but staying near here might be worth it for a little while longer.”

Zoro sighed, long and low through his nose. “Fine.” Standing, he turned from us to look out over the water. “Go, just don't be gone too long.”

I stood. My right shoulder was killing me, and the bandages at this point were useless. I had managed to pull the stitches while shoveling during the day. Chopper would have been pissed. A dark red splotch was ringed by the water diluted one from that morning where I had hauled him out of the water.

I had been lucky to find him. Franky though...

“Sanji.” Usopp tugged on my shoulder and we walked towards the woods, leaving Zoro and Nami-swan to gather the few supplies we had access too. It wasn't much, just a couple blankets and the odd supply we had decided to bring with us to the beach for the night. Mostly games and cards really. Nothing we could use.

The woods were cool and there were tons of footprints that had kicked up the undergrowth and tromped through the leaves. Usopp stumbled next to me and I saw the flash of something purple. I picked it up and both of us sucked in a breath. It was Brook's cane sword. Or well half of it. The hilt, the blade snapped off about a third of the way up. “Y—you don't...”

“I'd say so.” Handing the item to Usopp, the sniper carefully placed it in his bag of tricks and we silently moved on. This confirmed it. Brook was dead. The skeleton never went anywhere without that cane of his. But how? How did you kill something that was already dead and who's Devil Fruit meant he couldn't be killed?

“I don't want to stray too far from the beach Sanji...” Usopp's voice was cracked. “We are all gonna die aren't we?”

“Probably.” There was no sense in lying to Usopp at this point. If he hadn't figured it out on his own by now, than he was stupider than I gave him credit for. Hell it had been on my mind all morning. We were going to die. My nerves were shot and I was barely keeping a hand on the uncontrollable shaking my body was doing. Some of it was from lack of nicotine, which didn't help anything either.

“Is there even a point in gathering food then?”

“Gives my mind something else to think about than the fact I may not live to see the sun set again.” It came out harsher than I meant, but dammit all, it was the truth. We were most likely not going to live much longer. This had become a game to whoever it was. Some enemy we made at some point. They knew they had us. They had us when they killed Robin-chan. Just the way that guy had spoken...it was like he _knew_ Zoro and I were going to get distracted. That they had been planning it that way all along.

Did people know about that damned moss ball and I even though I had been trying to hide it? Would it really have made a bit of a difference? If I had just agreed to tell everyone when Zoro had asked, would we even be in this mess?

My hand went to my cheek. Usopp had hit me pretty hard, not that it wasn't deserved or anything, but what he said. They all knew. That's what Luffy had said as well. And if the Strawhats knew was it possibly others knew as well. Did these guys take that into consideration when they decided this plan? Had they known that Zoro would take watch and I would have gone after him? Or had it all just strictly been bad luck? Oh god...this really was all my fault! And not just the last day...everything. If I had only agreed to tell them....maybe, just maybe, some one else would have taken the first watch. Maybe Luffy would be here right now. Maybe I wouldn't be falling apart...

“Can we eat these?”

Usopp's voice startled me and I stopped and turned to look at the group of plants he was leaned over. “They smell pretty good.”

“They look like wild onions.” I crouched down and pulled one from the ground. It was dirt covered, but I could see the nice white flesh of an onion under it. The strong smell grew stronger as I rubbed some dirt from it. “Yes, that's what they are! We can eat these. Usopp, you have the things in there to set some snares?”

“I have everything in here Sanji.” Usopp rummaged around in the pack he carried and produced some string a second later. “But we haven't seen any wild life around.”

“Have you been looking for wild life?” I don't get how he can be staying so calm right now. Maybe the long-nose had just accepted the fact he was going to die and was just biding his time till that happened. That wasn't typical Usopp style though, but, then again, I'm not up to my normal par either. We had all seen some pretty horrendous things the last day. Shock did funny things to the mind and body.

“Since we entered the woods, yes. What have you been doing besides moping around?”

I snorted and snatched the string he offered. Stupid Usopp.

It didn't take long for us to set up a couple snares and keep moving. I really didn't expect to catch anything. There was too much commotion around the island. One thing kept bugging me though. Where were these guys hiding? We hadn't seen a ship and with how many people we fought, there was no way they could be hiding in the woods.

I stopped. It didn't hit me till just now. _There were no bodies on that beach but ours._ What had happened to all the people we had fell? Had they purposely not chased us knowing they had their own to clean up and tend to? Truly this was a game to them.

It made me sick. Literally. I was pretty sure if I had anything to throw up I would have. Instead I got a concerned look from Usopp as I leaned against a tree dry heaving. What kind of sick fuck did this? Tortured people like this? Yeah, okay, the deaths had been quick. Well maybe not Chopper, but the mental stress was too much.

My whole body convulsed with the motions and I couldn't stop them. Eventually I fell to my knees and I heard Usopp call my name, but my ears had begun ringing and it sounded very faint and far away. I felt like my stomach was trying to claw it's way up my throat! It was on fire and burned every time my body heaved again. Tears blurred my vision, but I couldn't stop. Even breathing became hard as I tried to catch my breath between the uncontrollable spasms of my body.

Usopp's hands came over my shoulders and he pushed me back against the tree. My hand came up, clutching at my chest as I gasped for air. “Sanji! Sanji are you alright? Sanji!” My name over and over until I was finally able to give a small nod.

What the fuck just happened? I swallowed, my throat still burning, but I was able to catch my breath now. Wiping my eyes, Usopp sighed and sat next to me, his shoulder leaned against mine. “You sure you're okay? I turn around and you're over here having a panic attack.”

“How...” I swallowed again. My voice sounded so broken in my ears. “How are you so calm? Don't you see what's happening? What they are doing to us?”

“You're not as strong as you look Sanji.”

It was all he said. Funny how the true strength of someone comes out in the end. Or doesn't come out I guess. Zoro said he needed me and here I as failing him...again. Failing everyone again. Wasn't I supposed to be _Black Leg Sanji_? One of the most feared of the Strawhat crew and what was I doing? Leaning against a tree slowly loosing my mind. Or quickly loosing it. I couldn't be so sure anymore. I needed that other half of cigarette and didn't hesitate to pull it out of my pocket and light it. Usopp just watched as I took a drag, my hand still shaking pretty bad.

“Let's keep going.” Usopp stood up and after a moment, turned to me. “Come on Sanji.” He held out a hand for me and I wearily took it, letting him haul me to my feet. With a weak smile, he flicked the corner of Luffy's hat. “It's probably a good thing you're wearing that.” Then he turned and walked forwards, leaving me to wonder just what he meant by those words.

As I suspected, we didn't find much for food. Of course we didn't search long either. Neither of us wanted to be gone from the others long. We did manage to catch one pretty stupid rabbit, so with that along with the few onions we had gathered, we would have something. Wouldn’t have been much, but it made me feel a little better.

The walk back to the shore was quiet. Neither of us had really spoken since my outburst, except when it concerned ourselves with food for what was left of us. “Oi!” Usopp called as we pushed aside a few small brush-like bushes and walked onto the shore. “We found something!”

Suddenly he stopped and I slammed right into him, dropping what I was carrying in my hands. I knelt to pick up an onion when I heard Nami-swan give a strangled scream and an evil viscous laugh.

They were back.

And they had Nami-swan! What was that fool of a moss head doing?!

I leaned to the side, around Usopp's shaking form and my heart sank. I couldn't move from where I was kneeling in the dirt. I just froze. Even with Nami-swan screaming, I couldn't force my body to move. This most certainly meant everything was over now. We were done for.

There were only four of them, five if you counted the one holding a screaming and crying Nami-swan over his shoulder. And sitting in the middle of them in the falling tide was Zoro. There had most defiantly been a fight, a couple bodies lay closer to us on the shore, blood coloring the sand.

The swordsman was sitting crossed-legged, shoulders hunched forward in anger, eyes narrowed as he glared at the large man with his back to Usopp and I. Thick chains bound his chest and arms as blood ran from a spot near his eyebrow and from the corner of his mouth. I missed what was said, but as the laughter began to ring out again, Zoro's face went from pissed off, to almost scared. His eyes widened and he sat back, staring slightly open mouthed at the one who had spoken.

This couldn't be happening. Not to us. I felt the previous wave of nausea wash over me again as my breath caught in my chest. They had managed to capture Zoro. I gasped as I fought to breathe again. My body just wouldn't respond to me. I couldn't get my legs to move, couldn't get my hands to push me up out of the dirt.

It was Usopp's voice I heard yelling as one of the guys fell victim to his dangerous plants. It was Usopp's hand that pulled me to my feet, where I just stumbled forwards and hit the dirt again on my knees. It was also Usopp's blood that rained down on me as he crumpled in front of me, a large dark hole to the forehead, blood flowing from it like water.

I'm pretty sure I screamed, but whether the sound actually came out or not I'm not sure. My lungs had constricted and I wasn't getting any air at all it seemed. Grabbing at the sharpshooter, I willed him back to life. I needed him to come back to life. I knew it wasn't going to happen though. It was Luffy all over again. And I was just as useless here as I had been there. Just watched as another nakama was taken away from me.

I'm such a shitty person. And now I had Usopp's death on my hands as well.

Zoro's voice reached me then. Yelling at me to get my shitty ass off the ground and run. _Run._ Like it was an easy thing to accomplish. Somehow I managed to suck in a breath, but it did no good. My heart was pounding now, felt like it was going to rip right through my ribcage and dash off down the sand.

My legs still wouldn't work. I got one under me but as soon as I put any type of weight to it, it collapsed and I just lay there in the sand. I was going to die like this. A broken shell of what I once was, suffocating on my own incompetence.

The ringing in my ears drowned out everything else. I couldn't hear anything besides the loud spiking hum. My lungs gave no relief either as I tried to suck in even just one more breath. My eyes rolled to Zoro then and I saw through the growing haze, the men turn towards me.

“I'm sorry.” I gasped out. I don't know if he heard me or not, but the pained look on his face, as he fought against the chains, his head swinging in between myself and Nami-swan told me all I needed. He didn't blame me. He still blamed himself. Was this really how it was going to end? _I love you._ I don't know if the words truly left my lips or not. I couldn't tell.

I saw the tears in his eyes. Could see him yelling but couldn't hear the words anymore. Felt my own tears welling against my heated skin.

His voice pierced the siren in my ears as he screamed my name. So this was how it was going to end huh? A shadow fell over me and I looked up as my vision blurred. Still I couldn't breathe, couldn't even gasp out his name one last time. Then it all went dark.

I don't know how long I was out. It was early morning, but whether I had just been out for one night or three days I couldn't tell. My whole body hurt and screamed in pain as I tried to move. Lying on my stomach, I managed to get my left arm under me and propped myself up. My right shoulder was stiff and the smallest amount of movement sent pain spiking through it. Honestly I'm not sure if I can even use it for the moment.

The beach was bare, at least the part I could see. Not a single other living being in sight. Usopp's form was nearby and somehow that comforted me, but as for Nami-swan or Zoro...I couldn't place either of them as my eyes swung about the sand. What could have happened? And why did they leave me alone in the end? Did Zoro do something? Nami-swan? Or maybe they just left me for dead...I fucking felt like I was dieing in that moment. Was pretty sure I was. Still do. Everything just hurts.

My throats raw, my lips chapped, head swimming and my eyes feel swollen. Pulling in a shaky breath, I forced myself up to my knees, slowly sat back and pulled Luffy's hat to my head. Was this why they left me? Did they realize that I had been the one to see him die? They must have known. Whoever this was seemed to know us all by name. Not that it was all that surprising.

I forced my fingers to move. My wrist; my elbow. I needed to get my right arm working again, even if just a little bit. I had to bury Usopp. I owed him that much for failing at the last second again. Not sure if I am capable of much more than that anyways.

Finally my body was obeying me and I rose on shaky legs to my feet. It didn't last long though for as I turned to where we had buried the others, my heart sank and my knees gave out yet again. Nami-swan's bright hair caught my attention first, her body near the tree line. From what I could tell at this distance she had been running but I wouldn't know more till I got closer.

It was the new grave that really got me. The dirt piled higher than was necessary, a large mound marking its location. The new marker of a shovel mockingly sticking from its head a small ways away from the others. Near it, thrown carelessly to the ground, were three sheathed katana.

What the hell had happened here? My breath caught again as some sort of reality hit me. It was just me. I was it. The Strawhats really were no more. These so called panic attacks of Usopp's naming were really beginning to be a bother as this time I did throw up, nothing more than bile and stomach acid, my whole body heaving with the motion.

And I was shaking. Uncontrollably now as I stared unfocused at the three weapons. Again my stomach caused me to lurch forwards, my hands clenching into the dirt. My lungs were also aiding in the battle to slowly kill me, the ringing in my ears their battle call.

My face was in the sand, it felt cool compared to the rest of my body, but the ringing had stopped. Pretty sure I passed out again. Funny how your body does that when you don't get enough oxygen. Turning my head, still laid out in the sand, I swallowed, but it did nothing against my burning throat.

The scene was still the same. Usopp and Nami-swan, the three swords and what I could only assume was Zoro's grave. But why had our tormenters bothered to bury him? A groan escaped me as I realized the possibilities of the reason. I couldn't even throw up at this point, my body just spasming with the movements it thought it should be going through. The mere thought of it was unbelievable to me, but there was the proof of it. There could have only been one reason for them to bury the pirate hunter and it most likely wasn't because he was already dead.

The tears wanted to come, but just didn't. I had failed everyone. Failed myself. It took all my remaining strength to get back to my feet. To swallow down this growing hatred of myself and this gnawing feeling of tearing myself apart. To make one foot move and to make the other follow.

The last of the Strawhat Pirates. Black Leg Roronoa Sanji...or well I had hoped to be someday, even if I never told him so. It was left to me to be the strength of the crew now. I owed them that. Slowly and wearily I made my way over to Nami-swan. I knew my strength wouldn't hold on me forever and she was the farthest from me.

Her body was bruised and scraped, as if she had been running through the woods. And she was covered in blood. I don't think all of it was hers, but the bullet wounds to the shoulder and knee proved some of it was. I tucked the loose hair behind her ear and picked her up, my whole body shaking from the increased weight. Cold, she felt so cold. So unlike her. Laying her down near where we had buried Robin-chan, I grabbed Usopp's little shovel and started digging.

I refused to use the large shovel that was left for several reasons, the foremost ones being it had been used to bury and kill my lover. There was no way I was going near it. Thoughts kept flooding my brain even though I tried to busy myself with my work. Tried to focus on the pain of my blistering hands. Hands I never used for anything but preparing meals for my now dead crew. An honor only deserving of them. Ruining my hands as I was now.

Usopp was next. The only break I took was to find and lay a small grouping of flowers at my angel's grave and to fish Brook's sword hilt from the sharpshooter's bag. He I buried near Chopper and the stone we had set for Franky and I picked the slingshot and a wrench from the bag to lay as markers for the two.

And finally came Roronoa Zoro. Blood dripped from my fingertips as I half stumbled to where his swords lay. My shoulder was bleeding steadily along with my hands. My jacket, which I had discarded hours before lay near the side of the mound. Gathering up the precious weapons, I kicked over the shovel and pushed it away with my foot. I hadn't the strength left for much more than this.

That damned cursed sword hummed in my hand, it knew my blood well, as I dug its sheath deep into the sand. I followed it with the other, leaving the most revered of the three for last. Taking a deep breath, I spoke, my voice sounded beyond hoarse as I collapsed in the sand near my jacket.

“Last one, Marimo.”

The small group walked up to me as I pulled the last cigarette I had out and tossed the crumpled pack aside. Shifting Wado Ichimonji against my shoulder, I reached for my lighter as the sun disappeared behind their bodies. There was no need to look up. I didn't want to look up. Loosely I held onto the lighter in one hand, my grip sliding around the cool white sheath with the other. I didn't want to look at the blood stains I was leaving on it. “You guys are sick, you know that.”

“No fight left in ya huh?” There was a bemused chuckle as I shifted my smoke between my lips.

I shrugged. “Something like that.” I had nothing left to live for now. Everything I had grown to love was gone. Even my dream of All Blue didn't matter if I couldn't obtain it without the crew, without Zoro. At least I would be able to die with them all.

I didn't even have the strength to panic. There was just nothing left anymore. If not them, I would soon die of blood loss anyways. I let my head tilt with the push of cool metal against my temple as I heard the tell tale click of the hammer on the pistol being pulled back.

I took a ragged breath through my nose. Looks like I’m not even gonna get the chance to smoke this...

 

* * *

 

 

_Exert from the Log Book of the Heart Pirates_

 

_Thursday_

 

_We were able to surface fairly close to the island where we were supposed to meet the Strawhatters. At first nothing seemed out of place, but as we all filed out onto the deck, it was Bepo who caught the scent of something. Pointing farther down the coast, he said it smelled of smoke and gun powder._

_The sight that met our eyes as we rounded the island's bend to a cove was depressing to say the least. A hand flew to my navigator's nose as the stench of just what he said, smoke and gunpowder hit us all forcibly. But that wasn't the worst part. The Thousand Sunny, the ship of the Strawhatters was lazily drifting in the water. Or well what was left of that grand ship. It looked as if it had been blown apart from the inside out._

_There was no sign of life aboard the ship. Or any sign of death, so there was a good chance that the crew had not been on the ship when it met its demise. But why would Luffy destroy his own ship? Something was most defiantly out of place._

“ _Captain, there are several sets of tracks here!” Penguin had run down the rocky wall onto the sand. “One set looks deeper than the others. Looks like they carried something away from here.”_

_I jumped over the edge of the ship, Bepo, Jean and Shachi accompanying myself and Penguin as we followed the tracks across the beach and right up to the woods. We lost them there for a minute, but Bepo was able to pick up a faint scent trail that led into the woods._

“ _More blood and cigarette smoke,” he said when Jean had asked what he was following._

_That meant Sanji made it off the boat alive at least._

_The walk through the woods was quiet. No birds sang and there was a calm that didn't sit well with myself or the crew. Bepo led us straight to a small clearing. Just on the other side of it we found a few items that hinted to the fact the survivors had been here for a little at least. A ripped and bloodied dress shirt, again, possibly the cook's. A spent cigarette butt as Bepo had mentioned and a few bandage ends. So the doctor must have been alive as well._

_Shachi pointed out the stray bullet on the ground, covered in blood. None of the Strawhatters carried guns, nor would they have turned them on each other if they had. What had happened here?_

_Six sets of tracks led from that area in two directions. The first led up to a stream a little ways away where there were a few more traces of bandages and some matted grass. There must have been a fight and they had come here to clean up._

“ _I thought you said there were nine Strawhats Law.” Penguin._

_There had been and Penguin was right. Why were there only six sets of tracks? There was no mistaking their doctor and from what Bepo was saying the cook was alive, so who did that leave? And who was missing?_

_The second trail led down to a far shore. Just before we broke that tree line, our residential bear stopped and shook his head. “The smell of blood is too strong here. Blood and death.”_

“ _Death?” I shifted my sword on my shoulder as I turned. He had his hand over his nose and simply nodded._

_The sight that met our eyes when we broke the tree cover was not one I think any of us were expecting or prepared for. First off, the sandy beach had obviously been the sight of a battle. The sand was turned up and blood spotted the white sand. In the middle of the beach was what appeared to be a small camp, a very large half burnt tree surrounded by several make-shift tents._

_But it was five shallow graves near the top of the beach that caused up pause. And in the middle of them all, the body of the cook. Quietly we approached, not wanting to disturb this site, but knowing we had too. “What happened here? You don't think he went nuts do you?”_

“ _I'm sure in the end Jean, he did.” I said as I knelt down next to the cook. “This was their cook, Sanji was his name.” The grave he was next to was different than the others. This one was above the beach, where the others had been dug out. His body was laid out at a weird angle, like he had been pushed or thrown forcibly into the dirt. An unlit cigarette was near his mouth, Luffy's hat crushed under his head. In his grasp he held a sword. The white katana of Roronoa Zoro. Looking up, I saw that this one of the graves had the other two as a marker; a shovel looked as if it had been knocked aside. Their doctor's little backpack marked a second, the sniper, Usopp, his satchel and slingshot at a third. The last two were marked with small bunches of flowers. I could only assume that those two graves were Robin and Nami._

_Then that would leave the shipwright, the musician and Luffy. The strawhat was here though, so maybe they had just not been able to recover the bodies of those three. This was beginning to look more and more like an attack and less like the ship had just exploded on itself._

_The crew pointed out the rocks with markers for the missing bodies I had missed._

_Looking back to Sanji, he had a calm expression on his face, dried blood running in small rivers down the side of his face, pooling in the sand. His blonde hair was matted a red brown right near his temple. Moving the strands, I found what I had expected. The bullet hole. That explained the position in which he was laying. Shot from the side, the force of the bullet, knocking his body to the ground._

_Whoever it was just left him._

“ _We can't leave them like this.” Both Shachi and Penguin said at the same time._

“ _I could try to get the ship around this side and we can...” Jean trailed off._

_I had spoken to Luffy and Nami not three days before this. We were to meet here and start on the next leg of our alliance. This was not a part of the plan._

“ _We will do what we can.” I said with a nod as Jean ran off to fetch the ship._

_I'm not one to defile a grave, but these were not proper graves. We were going to right the wrong here as best we could. Thankfully the use of my devil's fruit came in handy and I was able to just up and move the buried bodies without having to really dig them up._

_Once Jean arrived back with the ship, he, Penguin and I set to work digging proper graves as Bepo and Shachi attempted to clean the cook up a bit. The whole process took a few hours but by the time we were done, we had dug a large grave to lay the six of them side by side, one large marker with all nine of their names carved into it._

_It wasn't anything fancy like the ones of Whitebeard and Fire Fist but it would have to do. Across the front of the grave stone we laid the strawhat, the wrench, the sword hilt of the skeleton, the small backpack and satchel, the slingshot, plus the three swords and the two small bundles of flowers. Lastly, someone, I’m not sure who, lit the cigarette and we walked quietly towards the ship._

_One last smoke for the cook, like he had been trying to have before his life had been snuffed out just like one of his spent butts._

_This will not go unpunished. I may not know right now who it was, but believe me, a feat as big as taking down the Strawhatters will not stay quiet. And as soon as I catch wind of it, there will be hell to pay. And pay they will. Or my name isn't Trafalgar Law._


End file.
